It is with deep regret that we announce the sad news of the death of John Moore a member of Farnham AS.
John joined our society over ten years ago and was a valued and committed member with extraordinary knowledge and ability. He was ever present at society meetings, sitting in his usual place on or behind the front row and to right of the speaker. He was also a great supporter of our outreach events including Stargazing Live and visits to the Tilford scout camp. Many youngsters in the Farnham area will have enjoyed their first view of the moon, Saturn or Jupiter through John’s C11 or Pentax refractor.
John’s passion was astro-imaging, which began with webcams that he had modified for long exposures. Despite the limitations of these cameras John astounded us with wonderful deep sky and planetary images taken with a 5″ Maksutov Newtonian . It was these early images that convinced me to take up planetary imaging and under his guidance my striped blobs turned into respectable images of the planet Jupiter. John’s planetary and deep sky images still cover most of the Farnham AS display board and draw deep admiration from the public and experienced astronomers whenever they are seen. His commitment was such he twice took his telescope, CCD and heavy mount out to Tenerife.
John’s interest in webcams brought him into contact with Steve Chambers who played a leading role in the development of more affordable CCD devices for astronomy. John, with many years experience as an electronics engineer, helped with the design and the circuit board layout for the very first Artemis CCD cameras which were later marketed commercially by Atik Cameras as the 16 series.
No matter how good his images, John always believed that he could achieve more and was always working to finely tune his optics; his grasp of the science behind CCD imaging was impressive. Every telescope he owned had been taken apart and put together again to his own exacting standards. More recently John became interested in light curves for variable stars and monitoring outbursts from cataclysmic variables. He wrote his own software to automate the process, and John shared the data he collected with the professional community so that they could optimise use of their big observatories – and even contributed to scheduling observations by the Hubble Space Telescope. The sophistication of his software shows that John was a man of incredible intellect and this was just one of many projects that John had developed.
Although his personal interests in astronomy were well in advance of most members John was a very modest, friendly and approachable person. He always took time to help and advise anyone that asked. His words of encouragement gave many members confidence to take up astro-imaging, and his suggestions always delivered improvements in the outcome. His enthusiasm was quite infectious and his opinions highly valued.
Although many Farnham AS Members will miss his presence at our meetings and events, John was also a keen bridge player, fly fisher and a member a local beagling group. John was an active member of Farnham Bridge Club where he served as its chairman and until recently its chief director.
On 12 July 2015 the Aldershot and Sandhurst Beagles officially opened its new kennels which bears a plaque in memory of John, a plaque that reflects the importance to John of both the countryside and the night sky.
This is a very sad occasion for our society: it is an even sadder occasion for his wife Ann and family. Our thoughts are with them.
Peter Campbell-Burns
Chairman
Written : August 2013